The Leverhulme International Network for Contemporary Studies (LINCS) brings together the following academic partners:
Professor Margaret Anne Hutton (Principal Investigator), School of Modern Languages, University of St Andrews;
Professor Bertrand Gervais, FIGURA research centre, University of Quebec at Montreal;
Professor Johnny Rodger, Glasgow School of Art;
Professor Lionel Ruffel, Université Paris 8;
Professor Ravi Sundaram, Sarai Programme, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi.
The network aims to gather together and bring into dialogue currently dispersed theories and practices of ‘the contemporary’ from as broad a range of fields as possible, including ‘everyday’ conceptions of the term, and in so doing, to lay the groundwork for the creation of a unified field of ‘Contemporary Studies’.
To this end the following activities have been scheduled:
- Workshops on Contemporary Literatures (St Andrews) and architecture (Glasgow), September 2015;
- ‘Narrations contemporaines: écrans, médias et documents / Contemporary Narratives: screens, medias and documents’: international conference held in Montreal, April 2016, followed by readings and performances;
- International conference ‘Theorising the Contemporary’ held as part of a broader week long cultural event ‘l’École du contemporain’, comprising readings, performances, workshops and exhibitions involving academic staff, members of the public and writers (Paris, November 2016);
- A conference on ‘The City --- Information Interface’ in Delhi (2017);
- A further series of workshops on Time and Literature (St Andrews) and the ‘Glasgow Miracle’ (Glasgow School of Art)
The network partners will also put in place a ‘Virtual Archive of the Contemporary’, consisting of digital images submitted by the public, and an online open access journal, ‘Archiving the Contemporary / Les Archives du contemporain’.